ABSTRACT
This chapter addresses three major themes of political ideas: feminism, national identity and environmentalism. The Empire created an extensive ruling elite and a world-view which also embodied a degree of smug superiority that often irritated the rest of the world. Of all the many dangers facing the world's environment, it has been the problem of global warming that has most exercised environmentalists and governments in recent years. Developing countries were excluded from the requirement, but the biggest problem lay with the reluctance of the USA to ratify the agreement. The political fringe is the name given to the small factions and groups that often do their political work outside the conference halls of the main parties rather than within them. Those who belong are often determined ideologues, given to regular argument in groups prone to splits and factions. They do have some intrinsic interest, however, as microcosms of political ideas and conflicts.
